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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26470744">A Brief Timeline of Dragonspyre History</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CubanCracker62/pseuds/CubanCracker62'>CubanCracker62</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Stories from the Spiral [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Wizard101 (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dragonspyre, Fictional History, So much headcanon, Timeline, half of this is headcanon, lots of headcanon territory</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:02:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,739</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26470744</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CubanCracker62/pseuds/CubanCracker62</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A Spiral history paper written by Fala Pixiedust.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Stories from the Spiral [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1213407</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Brief Timeline of Dragonspyre History</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is exactly what the title says it is. If you like gratuitous amounts of headcanon and reading college-length history essays, then you might enjoy this.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong> <span class="u">The Fire Titan</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>The Fire Titan, or the Dragon Titan as many call him, originally made his home in Dragonspyre, and he was put to sleep with the rest of the Titans. Little is truly known about this time, but it is believed that the Dragon Titan's children remained, and that his children were the dragons and drakes.</p>
<p>Whether or not this is true, it is known for certain that before the kingdom formed, dragons and drakes held free reign over the skies of Dragonspyre for a long, long time. Dragonspyre was also known for having many areas with active volcanic activity, another sign of the Fire Titan's lingering influence. Dragonspyre was also rich in magic crystals, which would later become a cornerstone of Dragonspyre technology and innovation.</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">Pre-Kingdom Era: The Clans</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>Before Dragonspyre unified into one Kingdom, dragons roamed freely across the skyways, and men were scattered across the land in a series of loosely connected clans. These clans were small and mostly agricultural settlements, but they defended their territory fiercely, developing a common warrior-based culture. Much like the early Vikings, "raiders" and "barbarian tribes" have become a common (if inaccurate) term for these clans; some clans did conflict with each other the same way they would with dragons, and raids on enemy clans were not unheard of.</p>
<p>During this time, men and drakes were bitter enemies; drakes would often attack settlements and steal food to eat and things to hoard, and men would often attack drake dens either in retaliation or in search of valuable hoards. Even worse were dragons, which were rarer but far more powerful than their drake cousins, and were considered to be an omen of death; no one fought a dragon and lived to tell the tale. Scales, hides, and horns were prized trophies from killing a drake, and often went into making armor (usually reserved for clan leaders or highly favored warriors who had earned it, as it was the best armor available during the era). Very few of these artifacts have survived to the present day, but a small amount of early Raider artifacts are currently kept on display in Marleybone's Royal Museum.</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">Founding the Kingdom of Dragonspyre</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>King Mene is one of the most widely known names in Dragonspyre history. Mene had a humble beginning as a shepherd who tended livestock, living in the Clans era where men and drakes were enemies. One day Mene found and befriended a badly wounded drake in secret. He did not have the heart to kill her, so he nursed her back to health, slowly earned her trust, and gave her the name Gavarena. Some early accounts describe the two as having been an inseparable pair, and a formidable force to be reckoned with.</p>
<p>This union was unheard of among Mene's people, and the idea of befriending drakes was initially met with hostility from his own clan. However, his ideals of peace between men and drakes slowly began to spread, particularly after Mene and Gavarena singlehandedly defended their village and slew a much bigger and much more hostile dragon. This event was the first account of anyone killing a dragon, and became one of Dragonspyre's oldest and most well-known legends.</p>
<p>Over many years he would use his ideals and teachings to slowly unify the clans under one banner, and would eventually become the first king of Dragonspyre. Due to Mene's status as king and her fierceness in battle, Gavarena would earn her nickname as the Queen of the Drakes. His rule set many political precedents that lasted over much of Dragonspyre's history.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">Growth and Expansion Leading Up to the Century War</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>Dragonspyre grew and prospered as a kingdom, and humans and drakes both benefited greatly from their newfound security and mutual friendship. Human settlements could grow bigger and make advances in technology, and knowing how to care for and respect drakes became common knowledge, ingraining itself into Dragonspyre's culture. Drakes could choose to either live among humans that respected them, or claim their own territories and be left well enough alone without fear of being attacked by humans.</p>
<p>Dragonspyre had several kings following Mene, all of which had long, prosperous reigns. However, this would end with the sudden death of the young King Jungen, who had no heir to his throne. With no successor to a still-growing and prospering empire, many in high positions pushed themselves as candidates for the new king, but lingering rivalries from the old clans still ran deep, and no one could come to an agreement. This incident would spark a war for the throne that would last almost a century, which became known as the Century War. </p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">The Magic Trees</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>During Dragonspyre's expansion, one of these kings met with the Treeminder leader, Ambrosius. They exchanged gifts as gestures of good will, but contact with the Druids remained limited, and was cut off by the Hundred Years War. The magic saplings would grow into great, towering magic trees at the center of Dragonspyre's capital city, close to the empire's seat of power.</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">The Hundred Years War</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>During the Century War, the empire splintered into warring factions, with the boundaries running very similar to the old clans.</p>
<p>The history of the Hundred Years War is lengthy and complex, so it is not covered in this timeline. The basic overview of this time period is that a few figures managed to rise to power and claim the throne, but could not fully unify the kingdom; most of them were assassinated and power struggles continued to occur after their deaths. [Notable figures: Drannik the Shrouded, Gharok, etc.]</p>
<p>Near the end of the Hundred Years War, King Kylgore (back then known as Lord Kylgore) managed to kill an ancient and mighty black dragon with the aid of his drake, Leneth the Great. How he defeated the dragon is unknown, but this impossible victory, similar to the legend of King Mene and the Dragon, rallied his allies and allowed him to unify several of the warring factions under his banner. Some accounts even described Kylgore as Mene reincarnated.</p>
<p>With this new unified faction, Kylgore claimed both victory and the throne of Dragonspyre, unifying the kingdom and marking the end of the Hundred Years War. His rule would reestablish the peace and stability that Dragonspyre needed, but it would not last.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">Rydall's Plague</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>Throughout Dragonspyre's history up to this point, the secrets of magic were reserved for the nobility. The lords of the warring factions throughout the past century still received an education, and guarded their magical knowledge with great jealousy; meanwhile, their subjects did not have the same luxury. This would remain the norm through King Kylgore's reign, up until his son Betrin's rule.</p>
<p>A few years after King Betrin inherited the throne, one of the lords of Dragonspyre known as Rydall abused his knowledge of magic and unintentionally unleashed a magical plague upon his duchy, one for which there was no known cure. The plague claimed many lives; riots broke out, and the people of Dragonspyre demanded that the nobility share their knowledge of magic and fix the problems they caused. Rydall was convicted of mass murder and executed, but the damage was already done.</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">King Betrin's Loss</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>King Betrin and his brother, Viggor, did not see eye-to-eye on this matter. While Betrin attempted to quell rebellions and manage the lords under him to find a cure during Rydall's plague, Prince Viggor felt that Dragonspyre was doomed. Unwilling to accept the coming change, he left his homeland to conquer the magic forests of Ravenwood, having heard about the world where Dragonspyre's magic trees originated from. When his brother didn't return, Betrin's grief from his loss on top of all the problems he dealt with from the plague weakened his resolve to keep knowledge exclusively among the royalty. Reluctantly, he agreed to overturn the old laws and allow the formation of Dragonspyre's Academy of Magic.</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">The Cure</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>King Betrin dealt with a great deal of issues caused by Rydall's plague, including threats of uprisings, lords refusing to cooperate, funding and managing research on a cure for the plague, and internal conflict among his subjects. One notable leader of the uprising was Duke Sebastian, who not only pushed for the cure but also for the royalty to share their knowledge with the common folk. Eventually King Betrin relented and agreed to the demands of the people, and ordered the foundation of Dragonspyre Academy. The uprisings finally ceased after the cure for the plague was found and distributed among the people.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">Dragonspyre Academy</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>The formation of the Academy fueled a new golden age in Dragonspyre, and its graduates created many new advancements in the fields of magic, mathematics, science, medicine, and technology; with more available education, Dragonspyre also saw a surge in the arts and literature, with countless oral stories and plays recorded in crystal. Competitive drakeriding would also become a popular sport, with players practicing teamwork and cooperation with their drake companions.</p>
<p>The Academy was far from perfect: curriculums were tough and unforgiving, students would be rigorously trained in traditional combat in addition to their studies, the academy's centralized location left people in more remote reaches of the kingdom unable to attend, and graduates would often find themselves enlisted in Dragonspyre's military. Nonetheless, for the first time education had become available to the masses, and it was at a price many were more than willing to pay.</p>
<p><strong><span class="u">Aldared the Usurpe</span></strong>r</p>
<p>As more and more students graduated from the Academy and the Academy continued to expand its curriculum, the political influence of many of these graduates continued to grow, especially those who had gone on to take high positions in the military. As their power grew, the power of the king in turn slowly waned.</p>
<p>One of these high-ranking graduates, Admiral Aldared, had risen to the top ranks of the king's military. He used what he learned in the Academy and the military to organize a military coup with his own men, overthrowing the king (again) and earning himself the nickname "Aldared the Usurper". He was ruthless and widely despised by the people of Dragonspyre, but there was little anyone could do to fight the corruption he had spread throughout Dragonspyre; he enforced a military state, reallocated many basic resources such as food, quickly removed any open opposition, silenced public outcries from the people, and even began to censor and restrict the Academy's teachings.</p>
<p>Over the years Aldared grew paranoid, intensely fearing the thought of being ousted from his position. He punished any signs of unrest harshly, even alienating his own men as his rule only grew more unforgiving. By the time he was removed from power, he had earned a new nickname: The Mad King.</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">Katia's Rebellion</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>While Aldared the Usurper held the throne and silenced any public opposition, his enemies soon learned to meet in secret. A secret rebellion had begun to form, consisting mostly of disgruntled civilians, students and teachers. Much of what they did to fight Aldared involved sabotaging the military, stealing and redistributing supplies, and spying. It was noted that there were plenty who did not enjoy this dishonorable form of fighting, regardless of how effective it was. Later on even some of Aldared's own men defected and aided the rebellion in secret, supplying them with valuable information and inside influence. By the end of his rule Aldared had lost most of his power without even realizing it, and was left unprotected when the rebellion came to personally arrest him. Most of his forces admitted defeat without a fight; they were able to tell which way the wind was blowing, and it was not in Aldared's favor.</p>
<p>Formerly a combat teacher at Dragonspyre Academy, Katia was one of the main leaders of the rebellion, and was among those who arrested Aldared. She was a well-liked figure among the rebellion, and some even suggested that she become the next ruling queen. Katia rejected the idea, instead pushing to form a new representative council to rule jointly with the king, so that no one would be able to overthrow the royal family again.</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">A Fitting Punishment?</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>Many of Aldared's original supporters were stripped of both noble and military status, and Aldared himself was convicted of high treason by the Council, and sentenced to death and soul-trapping by crystal. The latter was kept secret among the Council, but remained a controversial decision among those that knew about it. One warned against the dangers of keeping a person's soul in crystal, especially Aldared's, but nonetheless it remained safe under the highest security for many years.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">Reconstruction after Aldared</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>A Council was formed, consisting of the reinstated king, various representative members from across Dragonspyre, and a handful of graduates from Dragonspyre Academy. The Council still had a lot of work to do though, and it would take decades to undo the extensive damage that Aldared caused to Dragonspyre. Many public works projects took place over this period to repair or improve Dragonspyre's infrastructure, including building a few more schools across the kingdom.</p>
<p>Over time the Council began to split between two groups: the more progressive magicians, and the more traditional members who favored the old ways of honor and combat. The two groups disagreed over many issues, and as the years passed, tensions only grew.</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">Council Wizard Kildare's Downfall</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>One night, Council Wizard Kildare followed and attempted to murder one of his fellow councilmen. Before he could do so, Councilman Valeric intervened, catching him in the act and defeating him in combat. He later explained how he had noticed Kildare showing signs of unusual behavior leading up to the incident.</p>
<p>This shook the entire Council. Investigation revealed signs of overwhelming magical influence affecting Kildare, matching up to his claims of being innocent despite the other two who had witnessed otherwise. Further investigation traced the magic all the way back to Aldared's crystal; how Kildare came in contact with it remains unknown, if he did at all.</p>
<p>These findings further heightened tensions among the Council, and arguments over whether or not to dispose of the crystal erupted. Some felt that it had grown too dangerous to keep and that no one was safe from its influence. Some argued that destroying it and freeing the spirit inside could have consequences far worse than what had happened to Kildare.</p>
<p>Valeric, having prevented disaster once already, decided to take matters into his own hands again: he went to the vault where the crystal was being kept and shattered it with his warhammer, putting an end to the matter. The Council was furious, and even though some of them agreed with his actions (Kildare included), he was voted off the Council for acting without their permission. Kildare officially resigned afterward, out of protest and shame for what he had done. He would later write down the details of the entire event.</p>
<p>-Source: The private journals of Council Wizard Kildare, discovered and published post-mortem by his daughter Anastasia</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">The Council Under Scrutiny</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>A number of years later, word of the incident would get out. The publication of Kildare's journals brought the Council under intense scrutiny by the public, and many criticized them as abusing power and keeping secrets the way the old royalty did during Betrin's reign. People had begun to fear not only the Council, but also the magicians of Dragonspyre themselves and the power they wielded. Attendance in the Academy's magical courses dropped rapidly.</p>
<p>The Council argued over this; some agreed with the sentiment of the people. Councilman Lyon accused the magicians on the council of keeping secrets from the others and practicing dark and immoral magics. Council Wizard Rurik especially took offense to this, furiously challenging Lyon to a traditional Dragonspyrian duel: no magic, only hand-to-hand combat. If Lyon won, new laws would be passed that would heavily restrict all magical practice throughout the kingdom; if Rurik won, the magicians of the council would be granted full authority over the academies. The defeated would also resign from the Council.</p>
<p>To everyone's surprise, Rurik won the duel. Magicians across Dragonspyre continued to enjoy their freedom, but it did little to relieve the public opinion. In turn, the wizards among the Council grew more isolated, and the split in the Council grew deeper, both sides beginning to feel threatened by the other after the incident.</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">A Drop in Popularity</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>Attendance in the academies' magic curriculum continued to drop steadily, and the schools started to shift away from teaching magic in general, focusing more on other curriculums. The number of practicing magicians in Dragonspyre also began to drop due to the social stigma around them, with many shifting towards other trades. By the time of the Dragon Titan, magicians had become a small minority in the population, mostly concentrated around the capital city or in the higher ranks of the military. Despite this, almost half of the Council was made up of wizards, a fact that didn't sit well with some of them.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">The Sleeping Titan</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>The form of a great sleeping Dragon was discovered deep within the base of Thera, the dormant volcano the capital city was built at the base of. The dragon was bigger and more ancient than any dragon known in Dragonspyre's records, however it refused to stir from its slumber. Word of this discovery soon reached the Council, and after much debate the Council allowed the Academy to conduct a research program for scholars and magicians to study this great sleeping dragon.</p>
<p>The professors found that it was indeed much bigger and older than any ordinary dragon, and that it possessed a great deal of raw elemental fire magic, hundreds (if not thousands) of times more than that of a dragon's. They also discovered traces of another type of magic around it, proving that its slumber was magical and not natural, but the magic itself was divine in origin and therefore completely new to them. These findings raised more questions than answers, and the research continued.</p>
<p>Doubt began to grow among them when one of the scholars, a drakerider, convinced his drake to accompany him into the caverns. The drake fled in terror as soon as he saw the Titan, startling many of the scholars and mages of the team and raising concerns about the subject of their research. The Academy ultimately decided to cut back on research but not end it, and a Council member pushed the Academy to allow him to help oversee the research team.</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">Lord Obsidian, School Mascot</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>Around this time, a very advanced golem was crafted as a prototype by a group of senior level students. The project was scrapped because the golem itself had an intimidating presence, but the golem was kept intact and unpowered in storage.</p>
<p>After a couple years, the golem was brought to life again by the faculty, and they explained that it would be allowed to remain if it agreed to two conditions: serve as an extra means of protection to the team conducting research in the base of Thera, and remain on the Academy grounds otherwise. The golem accepted this task. He was later given the nickname "Lord Obsidian" by the scholars, who had grown fond of him, inspired by the black glassy material he was made of.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">The Beginning of the End</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>The discovery of the Fire Titan would soon be Dragonspyre's undoing; a group sought to wake it in an ill-advised attempt to use its immense power. This group consisted of the Academy's dean, two Council members, several military officers, and a handful of the scholars on the research team. Their motivation is unknown, but historians believe that bitterness towards the Council wizards that had gathered a lot of political influence was their primary motivation.</p>
<p>The group took the research team hostage and, using their research on the divine magic, somehow managed to wake the Titan. Instead of being pleased, the Fire Titan's temperamental nature made him anything but. The selfish demands of the group made him furious, and rather than grant their wishes he used his magic to create an army of draconians to mirror and outmatch Dragonspyre's, caused Thera to erupt violently, and burned the entire mainland to the ground. To this day it remains one of the most catastrophic events in recorded history.</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">The Volcanic Winter</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>The devastation of the mainland spread to every corner of Dragonspyre; even the furthest reaches, while they didn’t suffer any direct damage, experienced the effects through crop failure, contaminated water sources, disease, hot toxic ash in the air, and a sudden shift to a hot, dry climate. All of these, on top of the Titan's destruction, left Dragonspyre open to invasion by legions of draconians. The event sent out a shockwave of effects in other worlds too; later that same year, crops withered in Mooshu from a volcanic winter, contributing to the end of the current dynasty.</p>
<p>Many people out on the fringes on the empire survived the initial destruction, but the aftereffects forced many to leave Dragonspyre. Entire settlements of humans (and even some drakes) fled across the Spiral, settling in many other distant worlds. One notable group even took to a wandering lifestyle, sailing across the Spiral in a caravan as traders and artisans.</p>
<p>Note: This is a major reason why humans are unusually widespread across the Spiral, despite being a small minority in almost every world's population.</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">The Draconians</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>The fall of Dragonspyre still left one thing in its wake; with their Titan slumbering once more and having no one to lead them in his place, the army of draconians began to collapse on itself. The Fire Titan had simply willed them into existence, and because of that they had no specific home or cultural identity to return to. The legions began to argue and fight amongst each other, and they broke up into a series of warring draconian clans (in a massive stroke of irony).</p>
<p>These clans settled into Dragonspyre's now-inhospitable landscape, and have forged the beginnings of a cultural identity for themselves. Regardless of how they came to claim it, they have made Dragonspyre their home; the heat, ash, storm clouds and constant volcanic activity make it perfectly suited for them.</p>
<p>There are also drakes and dragons living in modern-day Dragonspyre, living similar to how they did before King Mene. The drakes and draconians do not like each other at all, and they have remained bitter enemies despite their similarities.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ok, I lied when I said it was brief. But in my defense, it's brief by Fala's standards. I imagine there's way more beyond this; no country's history is short or clear-cut in real life, so why should it be any different in fiction?</p>
<p>The lore books were really short and flat in arc 1. The Catacombs bringing part of Dragonspyre's history to life and rounding out the nuances of that time period is part of why I find that questline so interesting: we actually get to see some of what that world was like, instead of how dead it is now. (That and the writing in the storyline has improved a HUGE amount since arc 1)</p>
<p>What can I say? History is cool.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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